


Unacceptable Behaviour

by iwantthemtostay



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 16:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8851198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwantthemtostay/pseuds/iwantthemtostay
Summary: "You’re mowing your lawn at 5AM and that is completely unacceptable and I’m going over to your house to yell at you about how unacceptable this is AU"(because we all know Tessa loves her sleep)





	

**Author's Note:**

> idek guys, idek 
> 
> (for anyone waiting on an update to Out of the Woods, I am sooooo sorry, it will happen!)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young woman trying to develop a business is in want of a good night’s sleep. Sadly, Tessa’s next door neighbour appears to be ignorant of this fact seeing as they’re mowing their lawn at five am, just a few hours before she has to make an important call to the owners of the Japanese jewellery website who are interested in her line.

She tries to ignore it, she really does, but it’s one of those obnoxiously loud ones that make sleep impossible, and she’s a restless sleeper at the best of times. Five minutes become ten become twenty (seriously, the lawn did not look that bad) and Tessa finds herself pulling on a fluffy dressing gown and slipping on the nearest pair of flats. Anger isn’t an emotion she’s all that familiar with but she thinks it’s what’s piloting her as she marches downstairs, out the door, and into next door’s garden. It occurs to her that this mightn’t be the best way to introduce herself as the new neighbour, but by then she’s already shouted at the figure on the lawnmower.

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?!!” He (she thinks it’s a he from the back… is that a shirtless back?!) mustn’t be able to hear her over the incessant noise of the mower, so she continues to shout. “IT’S FIVE AM! FIVE AM IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE TIME TO MOW YOUR GODDAMN LAWN!”

The mower turns and starts cruising in her direction, Tessa sees that her neighbour is definitely a man, definitely shirtless, and definitely swigging from a beer. He’s also definitely ridiculously attractive, so attractive that for a second she has to question if this is a dream, or maybe a really weird late-night movie.

The whole effect is so distracting that she gets a little tongue-tied when he pulls up beside her. “It’s five am,” she repeats lamely.

“And?” he raises his eyebrows slightly which is A Look, and his voice is… well, it’s something.

Not entirely sure whether she’s more annoyed about the whole five am debacle or Hot Neighbour’s effect on her (it’s as good a name as any), she ploughs on, “It’s FIVE AM! And you’re shirtless! And drinking a beer! And mowing your lawn so loudly that I can’t sleep! And all of these behaviours are completely unacceptable at five am!!!”

He smiles at her then, easy and relaxed, and she swears that his eyes actually twinkle, “The last time I checked being shirtless at five am was completely acceptable, especially in the company of beautiful women.”

“Are you _hitting on me_?” she asks, scandalised. All she wants to do is sleep! Alone and uninterrupted! Is that really too much to ask for? She hasn’t brushed her hair and her dressing gown has whales on it, she isn’t feeling particularly beautiful.

“Not if you don’t want me to,” he says quickly, and that maybe calms her a little.

“Well, anyway, you’re outside at five am, and it’s cold, and you should really be wearing a shirt!”

“It’s the middle of summer, it’s warm out,” he explains mildly. She might have to give him that one, her dressing gown is starting to feel awfully hot.

“Okay, fair enough, but the beer?? It’s FIVE AM! And you’re operating machinery! Is this what you do after nights out?!”

“I was at work,” he replies in a shorter tone than any he’s used before (in their admittedly short conversation). She notices for the first time how tired he looks. He takes a sip from his beer and meets her gaze, a little shame-faced, “It was a stressful shift. I’m a fireman.”

Of course he’s a fireman. Of course the man she went up to in a rage because his lawnmowing was keeping her from sleeping had spent his night fighting fires and saving lives. Of course she would make this much of a mess of meeting Hot Neighbour.

“You’re right though,” he continues, “drinking at five am probably isn’t a great idea. And you’re definitely right about the lawnmower, five am is a completely unacceptable time to mow the lawn. It’s just that Mrs Tarasova, the Russian lady next door, well, she could sleep through anything, and then the Pojés across the way, their baby keeps them up all the time anyway and noise actually seems to soothe him. The house you moved into has been empty a while now and I never got the chance to introduce myself…” he frowns, “I still haven’t introduced myself, have I?” He gives her his hand to shake, “I’m Scott Moir.”

It’s a very strong handshake. He has very nice hands.

“Tessa, Tessa Virtue. I’m really sorry about coming over here and shouting at you.”

“This thing’s really loud, there was no other way you were going to get heard,” he smiles again, and Tessa wishes this introduction had happened some other way.

“It is, especially at…”

“Five am,” he finishes for her.

She laughs a little, “I did mention that a lot, didn’t I?”

“It may have come up,” he echoes her laughter. “I know it must seem really strange, but it helps me shut my mind off after hard nights.”

“I get it.” Oh God, she does not get saving lives and rescuing cats from trees (which, to her mind, is almost the same thing). “I mean, my work isn’t as stressful as yours, but doing simple things helps clear my head.”

“What do you do?” He seems genuinely interested, which is different to most of the men Tessa meets (then again, this whole situation is different).

“I design jewellery, that’s why I moved to this house. It has a room out back I’m using as a studio.” It’s full of light and nice enough that she can actually use it as a place to meet potential clients.

“I use that room to do my carpentry in. I mean, the one in my house. Not the one in yours. And it’s just a hobby, not a business, nothing special.” One sentence comes fast on the end of the other, like his mouth moves before his brain has time to catch up.

“Well, you haven’t seen my work, it could be terrible,” she jokes.

He leans his head a little to the side, as if considering her, “I don’t think so.”

She doesn’t know how he has come to this conclusion, but she’s not going to argue with him all the same. “You could come see it some time, if you wanted. The jewellery that is.”

“I’d like that,” he replies before yawning.

“You should sleep,” she tells him, inwardly awarding ten points to Gryffindor for not adding ‘with me’.

He nods, before climbing off the mower and starting to stretch. It’s an impressive sight, and Tessa realises she’s far too awake now to have any hope of getting some more sleep before her business call.

“It’s been really nice meet you, even with the shouting,” he grins and reaches out his hand. She guesses he meant to shake it but instead he just holds it for a little while until they both begin to go red and mumble things about having to go.

As she walks back to her house she resolves not to think about Scott Moir at all until after the phone call to Japan. Business, then pleasure.

 

_Later that day_

When Tessa hears the doorbell ring she thinks it’s going to be her mom here to congratulate her in person on the big order from the Japanese website. She’s just about to start making dinner after a day spent sketching some exclusive pieces for the line based on cherry blossoms. It’s not her whom she sees on opening the door, but she can’t say she’s disappointed.

“Hi Scott,” she smiles, reviewing the sight in front of her. He’s a little taller than her, with dark brown hair that’s maybe a little too long, and kind, brown eyes.

“Hey Tessa,” he runs his hand through his hair and she thinks she mightn’t mind the length after all. “I’d like to apologise about this morning again, the noise was, like you mentioned, completely unacceptable, and the whole beer thing…”

She interrupts him, “You were probably on a whole different sleep cycle coming off a shift.” She’d once drank a gin and tonic (or two) at some weird hour of the morning coming home from visiting her sister in Australia, she really can’t judge.

“Still not advisable when operating machinery though.” Did he commit everything she said to memory? “And I’m pretty sure I tried to hit on you? Really awkwardly? After you’d, you know, told me what was what? That wasn’t cool.”

Tessa can’t formulate a response that says both ‘yes, that was weird’ and ‘you can totally hit on me now’, so goes with “I’ve had worse.”

He frowns at this, further confirming her suspicion that he could be one of the good ones. “Well, I thought I could mow your lawn as an apology.” He gestures behind him and she can see that the infernal noise-maker is waiting beside her lawn. “I just wanted to check that was okay, and that you weren’t doing anything. It’s pretty loud.”

She raises an eyebrow at this.

“Okay, it’s very loud,” he allows.

“I think I’ll be able cope with it this time. That would be great, thanks. Gardening isn’t exactly a hobby of mine.” The alarm she’s set to remind her to put on the pasta for dinner starts playing and she momentarily wonders what possessed her to use ‘You Make My Dreams Come True’.

“Someone’s a Halls and Oates fan,” he observes.

“Who isn’t a Halls and Oates fan?” she asks, stabbing her phone to try and stop the alarm as it continues to increase in volume.

“Is it your boyfriend?” he asks.

“God, no,” she snorts. “It’s an alarm. I’m single. Very single.” That came out way too seriously. “Normally single.”

“You can be abnormally single?” he’s grinning, and he should really do that all the time.

“The way I said it definitely sounded like you could.” She bites her lip.

He leans against the doorframe and Tessa thinks that maybe this is what swooning feels like. “I wonder what type of single I am.”

“Oh, I bet it’s the good kind.” If this comment is in any way seductive the effect is ruined when her phone goes off again. “I’m sorry, I mustn’t have turned it off properly.”

“Do you have something you need to be doing, or somewhere you have to be? I can just…”

“It’s just telling me to put on the pasta for dinner.” An idea strikes her and she decides to brazen it out. “You could join me if you like?”

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” he says quickly.

“It’s just pasta and sauce from a jar, you’d be helping me out really.” On second thoughts, exposing him to her cooking mightn’t be the best plan.

“I’d like that, thank you.”

She smiles, “I’d better go start it then, before my phone explodes.”

“We wouldn’t want that,” he agrees. “I’ll get on with the mowing.”

Just as Tessa is admiring the view of him walking away he turns and she drags her eyes up to meet his. “I’ll keep my shirt on this time. You weren’t that impressed this morning.”

“I wouldn’t say I wasn’t impressed, I was just worried you’d be cold.” She shrugs, as innocently as she can manage, “It’s hot now.”

He laughs then, quick enough that she has no time to worry about whether she’s reading this all wrong. “I’ll take that into consideration.”

She smiles at him before heading back into the house to try and find some previously undiscovered culinary gifts, or at least to try not to burn the pasta.

The lawnmower, while less annoying at five pm than five am, is still ridiculously loud so she ends up putting her headphones in as she potters around the kitchen (successfully not dropping her phone into any of the pots). She doesn’t burn anything and the side salad she prepares looks pretty so she decides that the day is turning out pretty great.

After arranging the meal on the table, she grabs a glass of water to bring out to Scott. It’s somewhat possible that she lingers in the doorway before going out onto the lawn to give him said glass. The early evening sun gives a much clearer picture than the early morning one, and she may as well take full advantage.

He turns off the mower and smiles at her when he sees her approaching. “I brought you some water,” she explains, raising the glass slightly. “I thought you might like to cool down before heading in for dinner.”

“Thank you,” he smiles as he takes the glass from her hand, drinking from it before placing it beside the mower he’s now leaning against. “Is this one of yours?” He reaches out and gently touches her bracelet, a simple sterling silver chain with five pearls.

“Yes, it’s one of my favourites.” She’s always been a pearl fan, ever since dressing up with her mom’s as a toddler.

“It’s beautiful.” He pauses, before saying very sincerely, “It reminds me of you somehow.”

Naturally, she kisses him. She can’t help it, a gorgeous shirtless man admiring her work is too much to resist, especially one who seems as sweet as Scott does. She’s had the distinct impression that kissing her is something he’d be open to, and this impression is firmly supported by the way he draws her closer and deepens the kiss.

It’s as if time stands still on that warm, perfect summer’s day, and the world narrows down to her heart hammering as it’s pressed against his chest, his hand dancing up and down the back of her silky blouse, and their lips moving together as if to a rhythm they’ve always known.

Eventually they have to stop because, well, oxygen and all that. She leans her forehead against his and he runs a hand slowly through her hair. “This behaviour is completely unacceptable, you know,” he says lowly. Their laughter mingles together and he continues, “This is a nice neighbourhood. You can’t just go around making out with shirtless men on your front lawn in broad daylight.”

She hadn’t intended to have it go on that long, but he’s just such a good kisser. She takes his hands in hers and says lightly, “I suppose we should go inside then.”

“I suppose we should,” he echoes, before placing a delicate kiss to her cheek.

They walk towards her house hand in hand.

Tessa decides that missing out on some sleep mightn’t be so bad after all.


End file.
